THE STELLERUS. 309 



long, destitute of nails, but terminating in sort of 

 hoof, lined with bristles. The skin is dark, rug- 

 ged, and knotty, like the bark of an old oak. In 

 fact, according to Cuvier, the scarf skin is a kind 

 of bark, composed of fibres or tubes closely packed, 

 perpendicular to the skin. The fibres are implanted 

 into the true skin by small bulbs, so that when this 

 epidermis is pulled off, the skin is remarkably rough 

 and almost shaggy ; it has no hairs upon it, as may 

 easily be supposed, for the fibres are nothing more 

 than hairs soldered together, forming a kind of cui- 

 rass. In a word, the animal is completely clad in 

 a substance similar to tht hoof of cattle, or of the 

 Elephant. This hide is an inch thick, and so hard 

 as scarcely to be cut with an axe ; and when cut, 

 it appears in the inside like ebony. This skin is 

 of singular use to the animal ; during winter in pro- 

 tecting it against the ice, among which it often 

 feeds, or the sharp-pointed rocks, against which it 

 is often dashed by the furious storm ; and during 

 summer in guarding it against the rays of the never 

 setting and scorching sun. This integument is so 

 essential to its preservation, that Steller believes 

 that many are killed by its accidental erosion. The 

 tail is also black, ending in a stiff fin, composed of 

 laminae like whalebone, and fringed with fibres 

 nearly nine inches long ; it is crescent-shaped. It 

 has two pectoral mammae. The milk is thick and 

 sweet, not unlike that of the ewe. The superior 

 part of the body is very thick, gradually becoming 

 slender at the tail ; the abdomen is large and tumid 



